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Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Songs to the Dust, Songs from the Wheel, Songs of the Sea, and Songs of the Electric Night (EP).
1. |
Song to the Dust
04:03
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Sing a song to the dust
Sing a song to the dust
Sing a song that you hope will be enough
Sing a song to the dust
When we were young and the summers bled to one
Every road led to an ocean in the sun
Every smile was like a breeze upon the sea
Every door would take us where we want to be
We want to be
Sing a song to the dust
Sing a song to the dust
Sing a song that you hope will be enough
Sing a song to the dust
Lessons came that they said we had to learn
The shape of tears and how much a heart can burn
And when we finally moved away from the shore
Well no-one told us that the map is ours to draw
It's ours to draw
Sing a song to the dust
Sing a song to the dust
Sing a song that you hope will be enough
Sing a song to the dust
Every breath we turn into a stepping stone
Cut through the years like we have some place to go
Oh can we carry more than all that we have lost
And make our life a song and sing it to the dust
To the dust
Sing a song to the dust
Sing a song to the dust
Sing a song that you hope will be enough
Sing a song to the dust
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2. |
Love Comfort Me
04:51
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I walked a while upon the land
I tilled the earth at my command
But I fed my hunger with an empty hand
Love, oh love, comfort me
I walked a while beside the sea
I asked the siren to rescue me
I waved to her but she did not see
Love, oh love, comfort me
La la la la la la laa
La la la la la la laa la la
La la la la la la laa la la
La la la la
I cannot speak of right or wrong
I sought the light, the light was gone
I found the words but I lost the song
Love, oh love, comfort me
I called it low, the deal was high
I drew the well, the well was dry
I learnt the how, I forgot the why
Love, oh love, comfort me
La la la la la la laa
La la la la la la laa la la
La la la la la la laa la la
La la la la
That old axe fell, my life was changed
That great gold sea came into range
Oh I walked a road so sad and strange
Love, oh love, comfort me.
La la la la la la laa
La la la la la la laa la la
La la la la la la laa la la
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3. |
Kostya Got a Gun
03:16
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Kostya got a gun
Oh he doesn’t show it to just anyone
And I know the war will soon be won
'Cos Kostya got a gun
Kostya got a gun
We shot some frogs lying in the sun and I
Cut my ankle as I tried to run
Kostya got a gun
In the distance I can hear
Barking dogs upon the air
Thunder moving ever near
In the river where I swim
I wash the dirt from off my skin
The soil my mother lies within
Kostya got a gun
And soon he says my turn will come
Then I won’t hide from anyone
Kostya got a gun
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4. |
Rosaline
08:05
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Long ago by the boats we buttoned our coats
Under the towers of glass by the old river markets
Walking like courtiers on a long promenade
As fate slipped its magnetic coins into our pockets
I was won by the dress you stole from the sea
We auditioned ourselves to act in the parts we created
Standing at sunset, you made me your anchor,
We watched as the dreams of the pilgrims set sail through the ages
Don't turn out the light
Don't let me fade out of your sight
Don't turn out the light
Rosaline
We met on a hill, the grass to our knees
You said you could stare at my face for a thousand more hours
Lying beside you, spinning and falling,
I watched as the blacks of your eyes opened like flowers
In the grand old hotel, chased by the horses,
The taste of the grain in your mouth was like gold from the mountains
Dancing my fingers on the strings of the heroes
Sensing the angels hiding deep in the fountain
Don't turn out the light
Don't let me fade out of your sight
Don't turn out the light
Rosaline
Sat on a train, five miles from somewhere
I made you my queen, you made me the king of your questions
And we turned off the TV and pulled in the curtains
And you waited for warmth and coffee and cakes from the station
Laughing at lovers undressed in the spotlight
The losers of fortunes, the singers of songs best forgotten
Binding our threads on a thousand white beds
We summoned the sun and melted and drowned on the cotton
Don't turn out the light
Don't let me fade out of your sight
Don’t turn out the light
Rosaline
Well we both played it cool, ‘cause fools will be fools,
While our scars dragged our hearts screaming into their cages
And we painted the streets with the soles of our feet
While the buildings behind us were packed into boxes like stages
And we ate from the table fed by the field
And we drank from a screen full of sand and the promise of water
Under the arches, tourists and walkers,
The carpenter's son, the ghost of the salt-seller's daughter
Don't turn out the light
Don't let me fade out of your sight
When I lie down at your side
There's nothing left for me to hide
So don't turn out the light
Rosaline
Wandering bars for neckties and statues
Touching the stones that hold all our ancient reflections
Then I sailed like a blind man into the doldrums
Out of supplies, no chart, no sense of direction
Now I scrub from my bones the path to your home
And I try not to read from the lines of the miserable martyr
Still I dream every night of a letter I write
And hold in the air like a priest placing bread on the altar
Don't turn out the light
Don't let me fade out of your sight
When I lie down at your side
There's nothing left for me to hide
And if there is a life
Where we could survive
Then don't turn out the light
Rosaline
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5. |
Leiby Kletzky
05:06
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Leiby Kletsky went walking
On a blue Brooklyn warm afternoon
Down 44th where the cars are all parked
His first walk home from school
Over the junction at Wallenberg
No-one would ever know why
Missing the turn that he had rehearsed
Kept on for four blocks or five
Yaakov German went walking
To trawl through the sepia scenes
From cameras that watched on the used-car lot
Feeding a black and white screen
And there in a flickering frame
A man and a boy sharing words
A tired old Honda, gold faded pale,
Pulling away from the kerb
Chief Joseph Cox went walking
To the corner of 18th and Dahill
Sent a patrol into Kensington
With flashlights, a face and a name
Into the house like a whirlwind
The officers crashed through the door
Where a man holding keys to a tired old Honda
Silently stared at the floor
These things we don’t want to believe
Become our unspeakable dreams
But is that so the lost can find shelter
Or so that the living stay free?
Oh come to me, son, I will give you
A gift of the moments he stole
The lights of the bright Purim table
The push on the door to your home
The cries of the children out on the street
The door to the Yeshiva crusted with sleet
The clatter of toys as they bounce down the stairway
The drone of the tyres as they roll on the freeway
The blood on your knees that you scraped on the pavement
The view from the train of the faraway tenement
Branches and bark of the trees that you fell from
Apples in sugar, fresh from the fairground
Comics and card games and hand-me-down bicycles
Gold chocolate coins and Hanukkah candles
The face of the girl who shackled your eyes
The poems you wrote for her all through the night
The turn of the leaves as the evenings grew colder
The fine autumn rain lying soft on your shoulder
The dawn song in spring as the mornings came calmer
The weight in your heart as you buried your father
The ivory wind from the fog on the river
The hand of your child, clasping your finger
Leiby Kletsky went walking
Into the valley of harm
Oh I hope that someday he’ll find his way
Into his own mother’s arms
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6. |
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He was locked in a mirrored box with a
Sketchbook full of frozen clocks and a
Backpack full of broken rocks by his side
He sent word on the telephone that he
Needed money and a ticket home but he
Couldn’t quit till the job was done or survived
Oh what more can a heart ever do but to send out a sign?
Oh what more can a heart ever do but to send out a sign?
She was wrapped in a wire gown with a
Map that took her to some other town and a
Hotel where the doors go round and around
She looked down on the streets below and she
Thought of something that she ought to know as she
Reached out as the falling snow touched the ground
Oh what more does a heart ever want but a way to be found?
Oh what more does a heart ever want but a way to be found?
Do doo do do do do dooo do do
Do doo do do do do dooo do do
Do doo do do do do dooo do do doooo
He broke out in a flash of light with a
Love bomb that he built all night with a
Dead poet in a suicide machine
He put his hands on the hotel wall and he
Started climbing with no care at all how he
Had nothing that would break his fall but a dream
Oh what more can a heart ever do but to try to be seen?
Oh what more can a heart ever do but to try to be seen?
She heard a tap on the window pane and she
Felt the fog wrap inside her brain as she
Peeked out as the driving rain swirled around
In the lobby stood a frightened crowd in a
Different building in a different town they were
Freaked out by a sudden thud on the ground
Oh when did a heart ever die without making a sound?
Oh when did a heart ever die without making a sound?
Do doo do do do do dooo do do
Do doo do do do do dooo do do
Do doo do do do do dooo do do doooo
He looked up at the orange sky and he
Saw the light dying in her eyes as he
Danced a waltz on the sunny side of the quay
He took a boat from the morning docks as a
Bell-boy with a brush and box oh he
Swept the dust from some broken rocks off his sleeve
Oh what more could a heart ever do but to try to believe?
Oh what more could a heart ever do but to try to believe?
Do doo do do do do dooo do do
Do doo do do do do dooo do do
Do doo do do do do dooo do do doooo
Do doo do do do do do doo do do do do do dooo
Dooo do do do do do dooo do do do doooooooo
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7. |
The Boatman
05:01
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I am the boatman
You will find me at some kind of crossing
Thinking of some other you
Some other me, some story we were lost in
Oh if you think you'll find the time
Maybe we could sit and talk awhile
I am the boatman
Watching every not to be tomorrow
Some other you, some other me
Some other path we did not see or follow
I am the boatman
Slow the waves that lap against my slumber
Floating in the reeds
Where I behold the vines that hold me under
But if there ever comes a time
The river that you face is far too wide
Oh come and find me by the waterline
I will row you to the other side
I will row you to the other side
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8. |
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Singing your songs where the
Wind sings along and the
Waters embrace your reflections
Tending your lovers like
Trees in the forest
The shrine of your gentle affections
Knelt empty-handed and
Digging for answers
Where gardens fold into the meadow
You cry "Do I see now?"
And "Who can I be now
The seasons lay claim to my sorrow?"
Oh dance with me under the starlight
Oh dance with me under the moon so bright
Oh dance with me until the morning comes calling you
Out of the bones of the night
Oh that cabin still stands where the
Wood grazed your hands and the
Wild grass reached up to your window
The songs and the laughter
Still float to the rafters
The soft breeze still comforts the willow
Oh dance with me under the starlight
Oh dance with me under the moon so bright
Oh dance with me until the morning comes calling you
Out of the bones of the night
Once you went searching
For white gold and myrrh in
The blue of some wintery eyes
But time let you know that
It's okay to know that
Your love was too big for that sky
Your love was too big for that sky
Your love was too big for that sky
Oh dance with me under the starlight
Oh dance with me under the moon so bright
Oh dance with me until the morning comes calling you
Out of the bones of the night
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9. |
Parachutes
04:12
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I'm not falling
Straight down
It's just a rush of air
Some planetary movement
And the sound
Of the earth
I'm not calling
Your name
It's just a flock of clouds
Some stratospheric whisper
Of rain
To the ground
Don’t need another reason
To pack another parachute
And take flight
To the sky
I'm not screaming
Out loud
And this precipitation
It's just a drop of atmosphere
That found
My eyes
Don’t need another reason
To pack another parachute
And take flight
To the sky
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10. |
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I came from the other side of this side of the world
With a suitcase full of roses and a jump-suit sewn with pearls
Got high fives for the guys, I’ve got a sweet smile for the girls
Sha la la, sha la la la
Mama was a waitress from the north side of Milan
Daddy was a soldier boy I hope you understand
Got a green card in my pocket, I’ve got a guitar in my hand
Sha la la, sha la la la
Well I touched down at JFK feeling 10-feet tall
Fixed myself a room in Queens, put my pictures on the wall
Well they say I never paid the rent but that’s not what I recall
Sha la la, sha la la la
Well I woke up in Pueblo, the place I call my home
Oh you can see me do my thing ‘most every afternoon
Between the entrance to the mall and the girl who sells snow cones
Sha la la, sha la la la
Sweet Gina she’s a keeper, she knows I’ve got the moves
She loves me tender, loves me true, she don’t touch my blue suede shoes
And if the King could see me now I know he would approve
Sha la la la, sha la uh-huh
Mama said “Don’t let your life pass you by
Flowing through the frightened holes of your eyes”
Daddy said “Son, no-one sees what you hide
And time is never on your side”
So I am bound for Vegas, you’ll know when I’ve arrived
People point and people stare but I pay them no mind
‘Cause when the curtain finally falls at least I’ll know I tried
Sha la la, sha la la la
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Ian David Green London, UK
A singer, songwriter and composer from Liverpool, Ian's influences range from folk greats like Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen and
Van Morrison to more contemporary folk / indie / Americana artists such as Damien Jurado, Phosphorescent and Iron & Wine.
With a gift for rich, compelling storytelling and layered lyricism, Ian builds his songs with carefully crafted, evocative and striking language.
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Ian David Green recommends:
Plaintive and melodic, the apparent simplicity of the arrangements leaves a lasting impression. Like a modern Joni Mitchell but, dare I say it, better.
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Anyone who can include a song with a 53-word title that still fits and makes sense deserves a tip of the hat. Endlessly inventive and surprising, this album is a true original. Chicago is a classic.
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Saint Bartlett
by Damien Jurado
A little sparser than his following albums, Saint Bartlett is a clever mix of subtle folk with more driven, anthemic arrangements. Cloudy Shoes is a great opener, Falling Snow hauntingly beautiful.
go to albumIf you like Ian David Green, you may also like:
The Edge of the Land
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supported by 11 fans who also own “Songs to the Dust”
I first heard Katie Spencer on YouTube when she was featured on the For Bert Jansch playlist. Katie played her own song called Shannon Road. The lead break that she plays twice really got my attention. I became a fan instantly. Every track on this album is lovely. The whole listening experience is like a favourite film running through my head. I'm so glad that in my twilight years I discovered Katie. I wish her a long and succesful career in music.
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supported by 11 fans who also own “Songs to the Dust”
Psych-folk with a late 60s / early 70s flavour. If you like Nick Drake or Fairport Convention you will enjoy this. It's an observation of change and a celebration of a hazy, high summer harvest. The music transports you to the moorlands and mill towns of Northern England. Dark and open and embellished with beautiful melodies and thoughtful lyrics. This is album of the year 2021 for me.
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Phototherapy EP
by Fahim Rahman
A collection of twinkling bedroom folk-pop demos from Fahim Rahman that arcs from hushed intimacy to sweeping cinematic emotionality.
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